1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to processes for the preparation of stereoisomerically-enriched cyanomethyl esters.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Stereoisomerically-enriched cyanomethyl esters are of interest because they usually have some different effects in biological systems. In the past, it usually had not been simple to prepare these enriched cyanomethyl esters directly because the optically-active alpha-hydroxynitriles were not always readily available or the synthesis methods gave products with low or no enrichment. Even when these optically-active alpha-hydroxynitriles were available or became more readily available, the optically-active acids were not always readily accessible. Often, the optically-active acids were obtained by classical resolution, which was usually time consuming and not practical on a large scale.
The present process provides a process for preparing stereoisomerically-enriched cyanomethyl esters in high yield by a direct synthesis method, avoiding the cumbersome classical resolution of the optically-active acids and alcohols.